Wireless system and method for interdeployment basic service set (bss) color and channel optimization

ABSTRACT

In dense Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) deployments, Access Points (APs) in other Extended Service Sets (ESSs) can be hidden (a first AP does not receive signals from a third AP). However, these APs in other ESSs can still interfere with communications between the third AP and the devices communicating with the first AP. To improve service to that device in that situation, the first AP needs information about the third AP in the first AP&#39;s decision making processes. In these situations, a second AP, in contact with the third AP, can share information about the third AP with the first AP so that the first AP can avoid colliding with the third AP.

TECHNICAL FIELD

An exemplary aspect is directed toward communications systems. Morespecifically an exemplary aspect is directed toward IEEE (Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11 wireless communicationssystems.

BACKGROUND

Wireless systems employ processes to manage the radio resources of thewireless devices to optimize parameters including channelization,transmit power, etc. The management of the radio helps avoid or mitigateissues with signal interference. The processes to manage the radioresources is executed on a controller that may only manage the AccessPoints (APs) that are either joined to the same controller or joined toanother controller belonging to the same Radio Frequency (RF) group,referred to as an Extended Service Set (ESS). Thus, any APs not part ofthe same deployment are neither jointly optimized nor fully aware of thesurrounding “second-hop” neighborhood. The controllers tend toacknowledge interference when the interference is experienced by one ofthe managed APs in the ESS.

There are many deployment scenarios in which unmanaged sets of APdeployments are present nearby. For example, deployments in malls canhave numerous ESSs that are not managed by a common controller. Even ifthe same network manager deploys multiple controllers, in which APsmanaged by the different controllers are in range of each other, radioresource management is still executed independently for only the APsmanaged directly by that controller. This lack of a single managementsource leads to the same lack of awareness and non-joint optimization asin the disjoint AP deployments.

These above scenarios present challenges in radio resource optimization.

SUMMARY

Aspects herein can comprise a method having stages for receiving, at afirst AP, of a first ESS, and from a second AP, of a second ESS,information about a third AP, of the second ESS. Based on theinformation about the third AP, the first AP determines an adjustedReceived Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) associated with the third AP.Then, based on the adjusted RSSI, the first AP conducts Radio ResourceManagement (RRM) to account for the third AP.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A illustrates an environment having two basic service sets inaccordance with aspects of the current disclosure;

FIG. 1B illustrates an environment with APs from two ESSs that can causeinterference between each other in accordance with aspects of thecurrent disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an access point in accordance with aspects of thecurrent disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling process in accordance with aspects of thecurrent disclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates data structure that may be received, stored,retrieved, managed, etc., in accordance with aspects of the currentdisclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates another data structure that may be received, stored,retrieved, managed, etc., in accordance with aspects of the currentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a process for determining a RSSI of another AP inaccordance with aspects of the current disclosure;

FIG. 6A illustrates a method for receiving information about another APthat may be causing interference in accordance with aspects of thecurrent disclosure;

FIG. 6B also illustrates a method for receiving information aboutanother AP that may be causing interference in accordance with aspectsof the current disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates another method for receiving information aboutanother AP that may be causing interference in accordance with aspectsof the current disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates another method for receiving information aboutanother AP that may be causing interference in accordance with aspectsof the current disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a station or access point inaccordance with aspects of the current disclosure.

In the drawings, like numerals can refer to like components. A letterfollowing the numeral indicates another instance of the same type ofcomponent. Like components can share the description of that component.When referring to a component without the letter following the numeral,all components having that numeral indicator may share that description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

APs can often identify nearby APs and determine or receive theparameters for those nearby APs to avoid collisions. This identificationof other APs is possible when the AP can receive the signals transmittedfrom the other AP. However, other APs in other ESSs can be hidden (theAP does not receive signals from the other AP). However, these other APscan still interfere with communications between the AP and the devicescommunicating with the AP. For example, the AP may be out of range ofthe other AP, but a device between the APs may be in range of both APs,which can create the possibility of interference and collisions of thesignals from those two APs. Thus, to improve service to that device inthat situation, the AP needs information about the other AP in the AP'sdecision making processes.

The hidden AP with overlapping coverage problem, as described above, canbe more pronounced in the case of independent ESS deployments (forexample, in malls with independent vendors, in office buildings, etc.).As an example, a first AP may be part of a managed group (e.g., a firstESS). A second and third AP may both be part of another managed group(e.g., a second ESS). The third AP may cause interference with the firstAP, and vice versa, because the first AP and the third AP may haveoverlapping coverage areas. However, the third AP may only be visible tothe second AP. In this situation, a lack of awareness of the third AP bythe first AP, and vice versa, can cause an adverse impact on a stationor device that is communicating with the first AP or third AP but is inthe coverage area overlapped by the first AP and the third AP. To assistthe first AP or third AP, the second AP can provide information aboutthe first AP or third AP to the other AP.

In a first situation, the aspects herein addresses the situation whenthe first AP above advertises an open Service Set IDentfier (SSID),which can be the name associated with an 802.11 Wireless Local AreaNetwork (WLAN) that allows a device to connect to the WLAN. Many openWiFi access WLANs, in, for example, malls, stores, etc., broadcast anopen SSID to offer open WiFi access to customers. Also, many residentialor office Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can provide a guest SSID oran open service-provider SSID that is offered to roaming subscribers.

In this situation, a second AP or a wireless sensor, which is part ofthe second managed group, can spoof a first AP, which is part of anothermanaged group, to appear as a client device desiring access to the firstAP's WLAN. The second AP spoofs the first AP to associate to the openSSID. Then, the second AP can notify this first AP of the existence of anearby third AP (that is not part of the first AP's managed group) andprovide the first AP with the third AP's channel and/or BSS colorinformation. The above notification may be provided using beacon reportsand/or BSS color collision reports.

Also, the second AP in contact with the third AP can share informationabout the first AP with the third AP so that the third AP can avoidcolliding with the first AP. Sending the above notification(s) to thefirst AP and/or third AP has important benefits: it prevents futuredecisions by the first AP that will cause collisions with third AP, itreduces the need for frequent channel and/or BSS color switches in thefirst AP in response to the unmanaged third AP's presence; and/or, itaddresses static channel and/or BSS color assignments in the first AP.

Since the association and reporting procedure may take valuable timeresources from the second AP and may occur in a different channel thanthe second APs operating channel, the association and reportingprocedure can be performed using the auxiliary radios on the second APor using deployed wireless sensors as mentioned above. In the case ofthe presence of 5G technologies managed by the same infrastructure, thechannels/bandwidths used by those technologies may be also reported tothe first AP as part of the beacon reports.

In a second situation, an extension of the a Neighbor Discovery (ND)packet can embed the additional information regarding a neighbor APs'channels and BSS color and can be broadcast in a Media Access Control(MAC) frame, which may be unencrypted or encrypted using a common key.In some situations, the MAC frames may be transmitted by a wirelesssensor. The extended ND report in the MAC frame can include the signalstrength from each neighbor, the BSS color of the neighbor, the load onthe neighbor, the neighbor's spatial reuse statistics, etc.

In a third situation, an AP can receive a Neighbor Report (NR) or aReduced Neighbor Report (RNR) from the other AP. The NR or RNR elementsare intended for client roaming and contain less information than beaconreports. However, the NR and RNR still contain some relevant informationabout neighboring APs potentially not visible to the third AP. The NRand RNR may be included in the beacons and/or Fast Initial Link Setup(FILS) discovery frames transmitted by APs or that may be requested byactively probing.

However obtained, the information received in the above situations canimprove RRM decisions in the network. Without this shared information,the RRM functions are unaware of AP's managed by other networks that arenot directly observable by the network's own devices. This situationcauses the AP to make suboptimal decisions that may negatively impactboth the AP's own network and the other networks.

The augmented ND frames, described above, provide additional informationto the RRM about inter-network APs that are observable. RRM optimizationcan utilize the information from augmented ND frames to decide how bestto manage the radio resources. When the ND is received, the AP comparesthe identified, nearby APs to the previously-stored list of known,nearby APs. Any APs that are present in the list in the ND but not inthe AP's own neighbor list can be added to the channelization and BSScolor algorithm optimizations as another regular neighbor, however withan adjustment to the RSSI. This adjusted RSSI formula takes theproximity of the reporting device into account such that if theinformation is received from a device that is located far away, then theneighbors that this AP sees are of less interest.

RRM optimization utilizing information from NR or RNR can be somewhatdifferent. Though NRs and RNRs contain much less information than theaugmented ND frames, the NR and RNR can still benefit RRM. In manysituations, no RSSI information is included in the NR and RNR. However,the AP can still extract the reporting AP's RSSI, addi a constantadjustment, and integrate this information back in RRM, which helpscompensate for the lesser amount of information in the NR and RNR.

Aspects herein are generally directed to wireless communications systemsthat can perform according to one or more wireless communicationsstandards. For example, some aspects may involve wireless communicationsperformed according to Wi-Fi standards developed by the IEEE 802.11, forexample, may involve wireless communications performed in accordancewith an IEEE 802.11ax. Some aspects may involve wireless communicationsperformed in accordance with other standards, rules, regulations,guidance, etc. Some aspects may additionally or alternatively involvewireless communications according to one or more other wirelesscommunication standards, for example, and without limitation, other IEEEwireless communication standards, such as the IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.11a,IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11u, IEEE 802.11ac,IEEE 802.11ad, IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.11 ah, and/or IEEE 802.11aystandards, Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) wireless communication standards, suchas, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Direct Services, Wireless Gigabit(WiGig), WiGig Display Extension (WDE), WiGig Bus Extension (WBE), WiGigSerial Extension (WSE) standards and/or standards developed by the WFANeighbor Awareness Networking (NAN) Task Group, Machine-TypeCommunications (MTC) standards such as those embodied in 3GPP TechnicalReport (TR) 23.887, 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 22.368, and/or3GPP TS 23.682, and/or Near-Field Communication (NFC) standards such asstandards developed by the NFC Forum, including any predecessors,revisions, progeny, and/or variants of any of the above.

Likewise, some aspects may involve wireless communications performedaccording to one or more broadband wireless communication standards, forexample, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long TermEvolution (LTE), and/or 3GPP LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technologies and/orstandards. Additional examples of broadband wireless communicationtechnologies/standards may include Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM)/Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed PacketAccess (HSPA), and/or GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)system (GSM/GPRS), IEEE 802.16 wireless broadband standards such as IEEE802.16m and/or IEEE 802.16p, International Mobile TelecommunicationsAdvanced (IMT-ADV), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX) and/or WiMAX II, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000(e.g., CDMA2000 1.times.RTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, CDMA EV-DV, and so forth),High Performance Radio Metropolitan Area Network (HIPERMAN), WirelessBroadband (WiBro), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High SpeedOrthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Packet Access (HSOPA),High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) technologies and/or standards.

Example Embodiments

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an example of an operating environmentassociated with aspects herein. The WLANs may comprise an extendedservice set (ESS) 100 a, 100 b that may include a master station orcontroller 101 a, 101 b, one or more APs 104 a-104 h, and one or moredevices or stations (STAs) 106. The controller or master station 101 a,101 b may be an AP using the IEEE 802.11 protocol(s) to transmit andreceive. Hereinafter, the term AP will be used to identify thecontroller 101, but the configurations may not be limited to the APperforming the functions described herein as a separate controller mayalso perform the functions.

The AP 104 may be a base station and may use other communicationsprotocols as well as the IEEE 802.11 protocol. The IEEE 802.11 protocolmay include using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA),Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), and/or code division multipleaccess (CDMA). The IEEE 802.11 protocol may include a multiple accesstechnique. For example, the IEEE 802.11 protocol may includeSpace-Division Multiple Access (SDMA) and/or Multiple-UserMultiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO). An example configuration ofthe APs 104 and/or controllers 101 may be as shown in FIG. 9.

The STAs 106 may include one or more High-Efficiency (HE) (asillustrated in, e.g., the IEEE 802.11ax standard) STAs, future-developedSTAs, and/or one or more legacy (as illustrated in, e.g., the IEEE802.11n/ac standards) STAs. The STAs 106 may be a wireless devices, forexample, a cellular telephone, a smart telephone, a handheld wirelessdevice, wireless glasses, a wireless watch, a wireless personal device,a tablet, or another device that may be transmitting and receiving usinga IEEE 802.11 protocol. In the operating environment, an AP 104 maygenerally manage access to the wireless medium in the WLAN for the STA106.

Within the environment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, one or more STAs 106may associate and/or communicate with the AP 104 to join the WLAN.Joining the WLAN may enable STAs 106 to wirelessly communicate with eachother via AP 104, with each other directly, with the AP 104, or toanother network or resource through the AP 104. In some configurations,to send data to a recipient, a sending STA may transmit an Uplink (UL)Physical Layer Convergence Procedure (PLCP) Protocol Data Unit (PPDU)comprising the data, to AP 104, which may then send the data to therecipient STA 106, in a Downlink (DL) PPDU. The PLCP is the physicallayer protocol that is used with 802.11 and other standards.

In some configurations, a frame of data transmitted between the STAs 106or between a STA 106 and the AP 104 may be configurable. For example, achannel used for communication may be divided into subchannels that maybe 20 MHz, 40 MHz, or 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 320 MHz of contiguous bandwidthor an 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) of non-contiguous bandwidth. Further, thebandwidth of a subchannel may be incremented into 1 MHz, 1.25 MHz, 2.03MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz and 10 MHz bandwidths, or a combination thereof, oranother bandwidth division that is less or equal to the availablebandwidth may also be used. The bandwidth of the subchannels may bebased on a number of active subcarriers. The bandwidth of thesubchannels can be multiples of 26 (e.g., 26, 52, 106, etc.) activesubcarriers or tones that are spaced by 20 MHz. In some configurations,the bandwidth of the subchannels is 256 tones spaced by 20 MHz. In otherconfigurations, the subchannels are a multiple of 26 tones or a multipleof 20 MHz. A 20 MHz subchannel may also comprise 256 tones for use witha 256 point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT).

When managing access to the wireless medium in the WLAN, the AP 104 mayschedule medium access, for the sending STA 106, during a UL timeinterval, during which the AP 104 may refrain from transmitting over thewireless medium. The UL time interval may comprise a portion of aTransmit Opportunity (TXOP) owned by AP 104.

At a given point in time, multiple STAs, in the WLAN, may wish to senddata. In some configurations, rather than scheduling medium access forSTAs 106 in different respective UL time intervals, the AP 104 mayschedule medium access for STAs 106 to support UL MU transmissiontechniques, according to which multiple STAs 106 may transmit UL MUPPDUs to the AP 104 simultaneously during a given UL time interval. Forexample, by using UL MU OFDMA techniques during a given UL timeinterval, multiple STAs 106 may transmit UL MU PPDUs to the AP 104 viadifferent respective OFDMA Resource Units (RUs) allocated by the AP 104.In another example, by using UL MU-MIMO techniques during a given ULtime interval, multiple STAs 106 may transmit UL MU PPDUs to the AP 104via different respective spatial streams allocated by the AP 104.

To manage access, the AP 104 may transmit a HE master-sync transmission,which may be a Trigger Frame (TF) or a control and scheduletransmission, at the beginning of the control period. The AP 104 maytransmit a time duration of the TXOP and sub-channel information. Duringthe control period, STAs 106 may communicate with the AP 104 inaccordance with a non-contention based multiple access technique, suchas OFDMA or MU-MIMO. This technique is unlike conventional WLANcommunications in which devices communicate in accordance with acontention-based communication technique, rather than a multiple accesstechnique. During the control period, the AP 104 may communicate withstations 106 using one or more control frames, and the STAs 106 mayoperate on a sub-channel smaller than the operating range of the AP 104.

During the master-sync transmission, the STAs 106 may contend for thewireless medium with the legacy STAs 106 being excluded from contendingfor the wireless medium during the master-sync transmission. The TF usedduring this master-sync transmission may indicate an UL-MU-MIMO and/orUL OFDMA control period. The multiple-access technique used during thecontrol period may be a scheduled OFDMA technique, or alternatively, maybe a TDMA technique, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)technique, or a SDMA technique.

Similarly, STAs, in the WLAN, may need to receive data. Again, ratherthan scheduling medium access for STAs 106 in different respective DLtime intervals, the AP 104 may schedule medium access for STAs 106 tosupport DL MU transmission techniques, according to which multiple STAs106 may receive DL MU PPDUs from the AP 104 simultaneously during agiven DL time interval. For example, by using DL MU OFDMA techniquesduring a given UL time interval, multiple STAs 106 may receive DL MUPPDUs from the AP 104 via different respective OFDMA RUs allocated bythe AP 104. In another example, by using DL MU-MIMO techniques during agiven DL time interval, multiple STAs 106 may receive DL MU PPDUs fromthe AP 104 via different respective spatial streams allocated by the AP104.

To manage access, the AP 104 may transmit a master-sync transmission,which may be a TF or a control and schedule reception, at the beginningof the control period. The AP 104 may transmit a time duration of theReceive Opportunity (RXOP) and sub-channel information. During thecontrol period, STAs 106 may communicate with the AP 104 in accordancewith a non-contention based multiple access technique, such as OFDMA orMU-MIMO. During the control period, the AP 104 may communicate withstations 106 using one or more control frames, and the STAs 106 mayoperate on a sub-channel smaller than the operating range of the AP 104.

During the master-sync transmission, the STAs 106 may contend for thewireless medium with the legacy STAs 106 being excluded from contendingfor the wireless medium during the master-sync transmission. The TF usedduring this master-sync transmission may indicate an UL-MU-MIMO and/orUL OFDMA control period. The multiple-access technique used during thecontrol period may be a scheduled OFDMA technique, or alternatively, maybe a TDMA technique, FDMA technique, or a SDMA technique.

The AP 104 may also communicate with legacy stations and/or stations 106in accordance with legacy IEEE 802.11 communication techniques. In someconfigurations, the AP 104 may also be configurable to communicate withstations 106 outside the control period in accordance with legacy IEEE802.11 communication techniques, although this is not a requirement.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the scheduling of the medium can be affected by thepresence of another AP 2d 104 h/AP 1c 104 c that is part of another ESS100 b/100 a. A STA 106 can be associated with ESS 100 a andcommunicating with AP 1c 104 c. If both AP 1c 104 c and AP 2d 104 h aresending signals on the same RUs at the same time, then the STA 106 mayexperience collisions or interference that prevents the successfulreception of a signal from AP 1C 104 c. Thus, AP 1c 104 c could useinformation about AP 2d 104 h to adjust the scheduling of DLtransmissions to the STA 106, and vice versa.

An example for an AP 104 may be as shown in FIG. 2. The AP 104 can beembodied in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware andsoftware. An example architecture of the AP 104 may be as described inconjunction with FIG. 9. The AP 104 can include an information service204 and/or a RRM component 208. The information service 204 can includeone or more of, but it is not limited to, a beacon receiver 212, aNeighbor Discovery (ND) component 216, and/or a neighbor reportcomponent 220. The beacon receiver 212 is operable to receive one ormore beacons from an AP 104 in a different ESS 100 b. For example, AP 1a104 a may receive beacons from AP 2d 104 h. The beacons may haveadditional information about AP 2d 104 h allowing for neighborcalculations in AP 1a 104 a and/or allowing AP 1a 104 a to inform AP 1c104 c of the presences of AP 2d 104 h. The beacon sent from the AP 2d104 h may be as understood in the art but can include furtherinformation as described hereinafter in conjunction with data structure404 in FIG. 4A or data structure 454 in FIG. 4B.

ND component 216 can conduct communications or extract information aboutone or more neighbors of AP 1 a 104 a. The ND component 216 may beoperable to put information in beacons to be broadcast, may put NDinformation in FILS discovery frames, place ND information in MACframes, or receive such information from those various sources and/orsignals. The ND component 216 may then provide such information to theRRM component 208.

A neighbor report component 220 can receive a NR or RNR from another AP104 that may be within range. For example, AP 1a 104 a is within rangeof AP 2d 104 h, as shown in FIG. 1B. These two APs 104 may exchange NRsor RNRs. AP 1a 104 a may then provide such information to AP 1c 104 c.This information from the neighbor report component 220 may also bereported to the RRM component 208.

The RRM component 208 can include one or more of, but is not limited to,an RSSI computation component 224, a spatial reuse component 228, achannelization component 232, and/or a color algorithm component 236.There may be more or fewer components provided in radio resourcemanagement 208. Further, RRM component 208 can include existingfunctions or components used in conducting radio resource managementand/or other functions used to mitigate or eliminate interferencebetween two APs 104. The RRM component 208 of AP 1c 104 c can considerthe information received from a separate AP 1a 104 a and conduct RRM tocompensate for the presence of the AP 2d 104 h that is within range of astation 106 but not necessarily within range of the AP 1c 104 c. The RRMcomponent 208 can also communicate through a controller 101 a, with aseparate controller 101 b, or directly with an AP 2d 104 h to conductjoint RRM functions or operations to eliminate interference.

The RSSI computation component 224 can calculate or compute an adjustedRSSI for the AP 104 to compensate or to address interference from aninterfering AP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h, in a separate or different ESS 100 b.The RSSI computations may be described hereinafter in conjunction withFIG. 5. In some circumstances, how the RSSI may be calculated is basedon how the neighbor information about the interfering APs and/or otherBSSs is received. Thus, a metric calculation, which can be an RSSIcomputation, may be different for the type or amount of informationreceived, which may be different if the information is received in abeacon, an FILS frame, a MAC frame, or from an NR or RNR.

Spatial reuse component 228 can indicate or determine opportunities forspatial reuse based on information provided in the information about theinterfering AP. Spatial reuse processes may be as understood or providedin one or more 802.11 protocols, however, in this situation, may alsoinclude, in the calculation determination, the information about theinterfering AP, for example, AP 2d 104 h, in the separate or differentESS 100 b. Thus, the spatial reuse computation, while similar, includesfurther information not used previously to determine the ability forspatial reuse.

Similarly, the channelization component 232 may conduct similarprocesses as previous 802.11 systems. However, those previous systemsdid not account or factor in in their determinations the interfering APin a separate ESS 100 b, not known to the AP 104. However, thechannelization component 232 can use the information received, asdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 6 through FIG. 8, to determinechannels used by the interfering AP for communications with or at STA106. Further, the channelization component 232 may be managed jointlywith or communicated to controller 2 101 b or AP 2d 104 h. As such, theAP 1c 104 c can ensure that the interference experienced at the STA 106may be mitigated or eliminated by the channelization component 232.

Similarly, the BSS coloring algorithm may also take into account thepresence of an interfering AP. The color algorithm component 236 candetermine an identifier for the BSS 100 a and may coordinate suchidentification with ESS 100 b through controllers 101 a and 101 b, orthrough APs 104. In this way, the ESSs 100 a and 100 b may select ESSidentifiers or colors that are different and can be used to help STAs106 to identify the source ESS of an incoming signal easily.

An embodiment of a signaling process for exchanging communicationsbetween one or more APs 104 h, 104 a, and/or 104 c may be as shown inFIG. 3. Signaling processes 300 can be conducted wirelessly or throughwired connections between controllers 101 a to 101 b, between APs 104and controllers 101, and/or APs 104, and vice versa. Any of thesesignals herein may be encrypted.

AP 2d 104 h may send a signal 304. The signal may have information asdescribed in data structure 404, as described in conjunction with FIG.4A. This signal may be received by AP 104 a, in a separate ESS, from AP2d 104 h. Upon receiving the signal 304, the AP 1a 104 a may send asignal 308 back to AP 104 h to request more information from the AP 104h. In this way, if the signal 304 does not have information needed fromAP 104 h to conduct RRM procedures that account for neighbors, the AP104 a can request the information from the AP 104 h. Upon receiving thesignal 308 at AP 104 h, AP 104 h may then send another frame of data orother information within signal 312 back to AP 104 a. The signal 312 canalso include the information as described in data structure 404 in FIG.4A. In still other situations, AP 104 h may send a neighbor report or areduced neighbor report in signal 316. The NR or RNR may containinformation from data structure 454, as described in conjunction withFIG. 4B.

Regardless of the source of the information about AP 104 h, AP 104 a maythen forward that information or send it in neighbor information toanother AP 104 c in the same ESS, in signal 320. In this way, in the AP104 h from a separate ESS that may be interfering with transmissions toa station from AP 104 c may be determined or found by AP 104 a and theninformation about such interference may be provided to AP 104 c. Instill other situations, the AP 104 c may receive the NR or RNR directlyfrom AP 104 h, in signal 324. Similarly, signal 324 can include theinformation in data structure 454 as described in conjunction with 4B.In this way, AP 104 c can conduct radio resource management processeswith the information whether from AP 104 a or directly from AP 104 h.

In another configuration, AP 1a 104 a can inform AP 2d 104 h of thepresence of AP 1c 104 c, which is in the same ESS as AP 1 a 104 a. AP 1a104 a can receive or observe information about AP 1c 104 c. Thisinformation may be as described in data structure 404. Thereinafter, AP1 a 104 a can receive a beacon or a FILS signal, as signal 332, from AP2d 104 h, which is part of another ESS. The beacon or other signal 332may indicate that the AP 2d 104 h advertises an open SSID. The AP 1a 104a can associate with the open SSID—acting as a client device-, in signal336. With the association, or as a separate signal 340, the AP 1a 104 acan send a beacon report to AP 2d 104 h in a MAC frame or other dataframe or construction. The beacon report can include the informationabout AP 1c 104 c as described in conjunction with FIG. 4A. The AP 1a104 a may alternatively broadcast, if not able to send a more detailedinformation packet or different signal, for example, a NR or and RNR tothe AP 2d 104 h. The NR or RNR may be as described in conjunction withFIG. 4B. In this way, AP 1 a 104 a can broadcast data frames that may bereceived by AP 2d 104 h to provide information to AP 2d 104 h, in adifferent ESS, of the presence of AP 1c 104 c.

Embodiments or aspects of information that may be sent, received, storedor managed within the system or one or more ESSs 100 may be as shown inFIGS. 4A and 4B. The information 400 can be stored in data storage,databases, or other types of storage systems. Further, the information400 can also be sent in one more signals as described in conjunctionwith FIG. 3.

An embodiment of one or more items of information that may be providedin a data structure 404 that's transmitted in signals described inconjunction with FIG. 3 or stored in other systems or data storage maybe shown in FIG. 4A. Data structure 404 can include one or more of, butis not limited to, an AP identifier (ID) 408, device type 412, channelnumber 416, bandwidth 420, load 424, RSSI 428, transmit power 432, BSScolor or identifier 436, spatial reuse information 440, and/or productor support 444. There may be more or fewer fields in data structure 404as represented by . . . 448. Each type of AP or transmission between APsof different ESSs may include a data structure 404 as represented byellipses 452.

An AP ID 408 can include any type of identifier for an AP 104. Forexample, the AP ID 408 can include one or more of, but is not limitedto, a numeric ID, an alphanumeric ID, a Globally Unique Identifier(GUID), a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), a MAC address, or some othertype of identifier that uniquely identifies the AP 104 amongst other APsin the ESS 100 a and/or ESS 100 b.

Device type 412 can indicate whether the device sending or receivingsignals is an AP 104, a sensor, etc. A sensor may be used to determineif there is interference from an AP 104 h in another ESS 100 b. Thus,the device type 412 can indicate what type of device is being used todetermine the information about the AP 104 h in the other ESS 100 b.

A channel number 416 can be the channel number or channel assignmentused for transmission and/or reception by the other AP 104 h. Thischannel number 416 can have an identifier, for example, 1, 6, or 11,that identifies the channel. In some configurations where the AP 104,STA 106, etc. provide 5G connectivity, the channel information caninclude 5G License Assisted Access (LAA) channels.

Bandwidth 420 can indicate the amount of bandwidth being used or to beused by the AP 104 h. This bandwidth can be indicated in megabits persecond or some other type of measure the amount of bandwidth 420 neededby the AP 104 h. As above where, where the AP 104, STA 106, etc. provide5G connectivity, the bandwidth information can include 5G bandwidthinformation also.

The load 424 can indicate the number of streams or STAs 106 beingserviced by the AP 104 h. The load 424 can also be a future amount ofbandwidth or streams that may be sent or received by the AP 104 h. Thus,the load 424 can help determine the ability for the AP 104 h to reduceor need to increase the amount of transmissions and how best to managethe radio resource with that AP 104 h.

The RSSI 428 may be either an indication of the amount of signalstrength received at an AP 104 a or AP 104 c and/or an indication, sentfrom the transmitting AP 104 h, as to the amount of signal strengthbeing used to transmit. Either of these measures may be used for RRMinformation including the interference that might be created by that AP.The RSSI may be used in the equations, computations, etc., describedabove in conjunction with FIG. 5.

The transmit power 432 can be an indication from the transmitting AP 104h of the amount of power being used to transmit. The transmit power 432can give an indication of distance from the current AP 104 c based onthe amount of signal strength received and recorded in the RSSI 428. Inthis way, it may be possible to ignore certain APs if those APs may beat a greater distance and cannot cause or cause little interference.

The BSS color identifier 436 (also referred to simply as a BSS color)can be an identifier of the BSS to which the AP belongs. The BSS color436 can be one or more of, but is not limited to, a numeric ID, analphanumeric ID, a GUID, or other type of identifier that identifies theBSS 100 a, 100 b amongst all other BSSs. The BSS color identifier 436can be provided to indicate to which BSS that AP 104 h is part and toidentify the controller 101 associated with that BSS.

Spatial reuse information 440 can include any type of indication of theability to reuse the bandwidth in the environment. Thus, this spatialreuse information 440 may be an indication of the ability to use similarspatial transmissions based on the use by the foreign unassociated AP104 h.

Protocol support 444 can include any type of information or indicationof what protocols may be supported by the APs 104. These protocols mayinclude any type of negotiations by neighbors or different BSSs or ESSsfor determining or provisioning the radio resource, especially inenvironments where interference is possible. The protocol support 444allows the AP 104 c to determine how best to communicate with the AP 104h or controller 101 b and the other ESS 100 b.

Another data structure 454 which may be a representation of the neighborreport or the reduced neighbor report may be as shown in FIG. 4B. Thedata structure 454 can include one or more fields, but it is not limitedto, an AP ID 408, a channel number 416, and a reporting device RSSI 456.There may be more or fewer fields in data structure 454 as representedby ellipses 458. Further, each device or AP 104 that provides suchneighbor reports may have a different neighbor report which may berepresented by ellipses 460.

The AP ID 408 and the channel number 416 may be the same or similar tothat data described in conjunction with FIG. 4A and will not bedescribed further here. The reporting device RSSI 456 can be the amountof signal strength produced or received by the AP 104 c from AP 104 h.The reporting device RSSI 456 can be a small bit of information and maybe used in the RSSI calculations as described in conjunction with FIG.5. Signal strength can be represented in the watts or some other type ofmeasure.

A method 500 for conducting RRM to account for an AP 2D 104 h/AP 1C 104c from another BSS and/or ESS 100 b may be as shown in FIG. 5.Generally, the method 500 starts with a start operation 504 and endswith an end operation 520. The method 500 can include more or fewersteps or can arrange the order of the steps differently than those shownin FIG. 5. The method 500 can be executed as a set ofcomputer-executable instructions, executed by a computer system orprocessing component, and be encoded or stored on a storage medium.Further, the method 500 can be executed by a gate or other hardwaredevice or component in an ASIC, a FPGA, or other type of hardwaredevice. Hereinafter, the method 500 shall be explained with reference tothe systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc.described herein.

A first AP 2d 104 h (or AP 1c 104 c) may receive information aboutanother AP, for example, AP 1c 104 c (or AP 2D 104 h), of another ESS100 a (or ESS 100 b) (as shown in FIG. 1A), in stage 508. Theinformation about the AP 1c 104 c or AP 2D 104 h, in the same ESS 100 aor different ESS 100 b, may be received through one or more differentprocesses. Examples of the several processes may be as described inconjunction with FIG. 6 through FIG. 8. The information can include oneor more of the items of information included in data structures 404 or454 described in conjunction with FIGS. 4A and 4B. The information maybe provided either to AP 2d 104 h or as one or more signals as describedin conjunction with FIG. 3. The AP 2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c can receiveinformation with the information service 204 either at the beaconreceiver 212, the ND component 216, or the neighbor report component220. The various information provided may then be provided to the radioresource management component 208 of AP 2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c to avoidsignal collisions with AP 1c 104 c or AP 2D 104 h.

The radio resource management component 208 can then determine anadjusted RSSI associated with AP 1c 104 c/AP 2d 104 h, in stage 512. TheRSSI computation component 224 can receive the RSSI information and/orother information about the other AP 1c 104 c/AP 2d 104 h and use thatinformation to compute an adjusted RSSI. The RSSI information caninclude the RSSI information in field 428 or in field 456. The adjustedRSSI can be computed based on the one or more algorithms that areapplied based on how the information is received or the type of RSSIinformation. For example, if the information received is in the beaconreport, FILS frame, MAC frame, etc., the information includes data indata structure 404, and/or is received as described in conjunction withFIGS. 6 and 7, then the following formula may be used to calculate theadjusted RSSI:

RSSI_(adj)=RSSI_(reported)+RSSI_(reporting device)−RSSI_(reference)

The adjusted RSSI takes the place of the RSSI inputs in various RRMcalculations or determinations. The “reported RSSI” references the RSSI,of the AP 1c 104 c/AP 2d 104 h, received and calculated at the AP 1a 104a and which is sent to AP 1c 104 c/AP 2D 104 h. The “reporting RSSI”represents the RSSI received at the AP 1c 104 c associated with AP 1a104 a. The “reference RSSI” is a constant value that is associated withthe reporting AP 1a 104 a or with this type of calculation. If theadjusted RSSI is not above a predetermined threshold, the neighbor AP 1c104 c/AP 2d 104 h may be ignored as being too far to cause interference.The inclusion of the reporting AP's RSSI ensures that if the AP 1a 104 ais too far, its neighbors will also be ignored.

If the information received is in a neighbor report or a RNR, theinformation can include the information in data structure 454, and/or isreceived as described in conjunction with FIG. 8, then the followingformula may be used to calculate the adjusted RSSI:

RSSI_(adj)=RSSI_(reporting device)−Adjustment Factor

Again, this adjusted RSSI takes the place of the RSSI inputs in variousRRM calculations or determinations. The “reporting device RSSI”represents the RSSI received at the AP 2d 104 h/AP 1c 104 c associatedwith AP 1 a 104 a. The “Adjustment Factor” is a constant value that isassociated with the reporting AP 1a 104 a or with this type ofcalculation. Again, if the adjusted RSSI is not above a predeterminedthreshold, the neighbor AP 1c 104 c/AP 2d 104 h may be ignored as beingtoo far to cause interference because the AP 1a 104 a is too far.

With the adjusted RSSI, the RRM component 208 may then conduct otherfunctions for radio resource management to account for the other AP 1c104 c/AP 2d 104 h, in stage 516. In stage 516, the spatial reusecomponent 228 can determine spatial reuse opportunities in theenvironment including determinations of spatial reuse based on the otherESS 100 b or BSS and the AP 1c 104 c/AP 2d 104 h that may be causinginterference with the station 106 in communication with the AP 1c 104c/AP 2d 104 h. The spatial reuse component 228 may function to determinespatial reuse as understood in the 802.11 protocols, but may use theadjusted RSSI versus computation.

Further the channelization or determination of a channel to use incommunication with station 106 may also be computed by thechannelization component 232 with the adjusted RSSI. Still further, thedetermination of the BSS color used with BSSs in ESS 100 a and 100 b mayalso be determined based on the adjusted RSSI or in reaction todetermining an adjusted RSSI over a particular threshold. Thus, thenormal functions of the radio resource management component 208conducted in determining how to communicate with the station 106 or howto communicate with the other BSS may be influenced or directed by theadjusted RSSI or by the determination of the presence of a secondary AP1c 104 c/AP 2d 104 h that may be causing interference with a station 106or causing other issues with the BSS.

A method 600 for receiving information about AP 2d 104 h in another ESS100 b may be as shown and described in FIG. 6A. Generally, the method600 starts with a start operation 604 and ends with an end operation620. The method 600 can include more or fewer steps or can arrange theorder of the steps differently than those shown in FIG. 6A. The method600 can be executed as a set of computer-executable instructions,executed by a computer system or processing component, and be encoded orstored on a storage medium. Further, the method 600 can be executed by agate or other hardware device or component in an ASIC, a FPGA, or othertype of hardware device. Hereinafter, the method 600 shall be explainedwith reference to the systems, components, modules, software, datastructures, etc. described herein.

A second AP, AP 1a 104 a, may spoof a first AP, AP 2d 104 h, which ispart of another ESS 100 b, to associate with AP 2d 104 h as a client, instage 608. In some situations, a sensor instead of AP 1a 104 a willspoof as a client and perform the stages described herein in conjunctionwith FIG. 6. However, for ease of description, the AP 104 a will bedescribed as conducting the following process. AP 2d 104 h may have anopen SSID. The AP 1a 104 a may receive beacons or other indications ofthe open SSID of AP 2d 104 h, in signals 304. The AP 1a 104 a may thenassociate with the first AP 2d 104 h through the open SSID by sendingsignal 308 to AP 2d 104 h.

In response to the request to associate as a client, AP 2d 104 h maythen send a next signal 312 back to AP 104 a. This signal 312 mayinclude information about the first AP 2d 104 h which is received by AP104 a, in stage 612. The information provided may include theinformation in data structure 404 as described in conjunction with FIG.4A. The information may be included in a MAC frame or other type ofsignal. This information may be received by the information service 204of AP 104 a.

Information about AP 104 h may be extracted and provided in signal 320to a third AP 104 c sent by the AP 104 a to AP 104 c, in stage 616. AP104 c may require the neighbor information contained in data structure404 to compensate the presence of AP 2d 104 h. AP 104 h may not bewithin range of AP 1c 104 c but is within range of AP 104 a. However, astation 106 between AP 1c 104 c and AP 2d 104 h may experienceinterference from AP 2d 104 h. As such, the information service 204 mayreceive the information at the ND component 216 to perform the steps ofdetermining an adjusted RSSI and conducting other RRM processes asdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 5.

A method 628 for sending information about AP 1c 104 c, in a second ESS100 b and having a second BSS color, may be as shown and described inFIG. 6B. Generally, the method 628 starts with a start operation 632 andends with an end operation 648. The method 628 can include more or fewersteps or can arrange the order of the steps differently than those shownin FIG. 6B. The method 628 can be executed as a set ofcomputer-executable instructions, executed by a computer system orprocessing component, and be encoded or stored on a storage medium.Further, the method 628 can be executed by a gate or other hardwaredevice or component in an ASIC, a FPGA, or other type of hardwaredevice. Hereinafter, the method 628 shall be explained with reference tothe systems, components, modules, software, data structures, etc.described herein.

A second AP, AP 1c 104 c, may send or provide information about the AP2d 104 h to a third AP, AP 1a 104 a. The AP 1a 104 a can receive theinformation, in stage 636. For example, AP 1a 104 a can receiveinformation in data structure 404, as described in conjunction with FIG.4A. The information may be sent to AP 1a 104 a, by AP 1c 104 c, insignal 328. The information may be included in a MAC frame or other typeof signal. This information may be received by the information service204 of AP 104 a.

A second AP, AP 1a 104 a, may spoof a first AP, AP 2d 104 h, which ispart of another ESS 100 b, and may have a different BSS color, toassociate with AP 2d 104 h as a client, in stage 640. In somesituations, a sensor instead of AP 1a 104 a will spoof as a client andperform the stages described herein in conjunction with FIG. 6B.However, for ease of description, the AP 104 a will be described asconducting the following process. AP 2d 104 h may have an open SSID. TheAP 1a 104 a may receive beacons or other indications of the open SSID ofAP 2d 104 h, in signals 304. The AP 1a 104 a may then associate with thefirst AP, AP 2d 104 h, through the open SSID by sending signal 308 to AP2d 104 h.

Information about AP 1c 104 c may be extracted and provided in signal320, to the first AP, AP 2d 104 h, sent by the AP 104 a to AP 104 c, instage 644. AP 2d 104 h may require the neighbor information contained indata structure 404 to compensate for the presence of AP 1c 104 c. AP 104h may not be within range of AP 1c 104 c but is within range of AP 104a. However, a station 106 between AP 1c 104 c and AP 2d 104 h mayexperience interference from AP 1c 104 c. As such, the informationservice 204 may receive the information at the ND component 216 toperform the steps of determining an adjusted RSSI, BSS color, etc., andconducting other RRM processes as described in conjunction with FIG. 5.

A method 700 for receiving a MAC frame with neighbor information may beas described in conjunction with FIG. 7. Generally, the method 700starts with a start operation 704 and ends with an end operation 720.The method 700 can include more or fewer steps or can arrange the orderof the steps differently than those shown in FIG. 7. The method 700 canbe executed as a set of computer-executable instructions, executed by acomputer system or processing component, and be encoded or stored on astorage medium. Further, the method 700 can be executed by a gate orother hardware device or component in an ASIC, a FPGA, or other type ofhardware device. Hereinafter, the method 700 shall be explained withreference to the systems, components, modules, software, datastructures, etc. described herein.

A second AP 1a 104 a may receive a MAC frame from an AP, e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104 c, in stage 708. The MAC frame may be received inresponse to spoofing the AP 2d 104 has described in conjunction withFIG. 6A or may be received through other processes. The MAC frame cancontain information as described in conjunction with data structure 404of FIG. 4A. The information service 204 of AP 104 a can receive the MACframe to extract information for another AP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h or AP 1c104 c. The first AP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h, may be part of a different ESS,e.g., ESS 100 b, and possibly may be causing interference with a station106 in communication with AP 1c 104 c and/or AP 2d 104 h.

The information service 204 of AP 1a 104 a may then extract any NDinformation or other types of information about the other AP, e.g., AP2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c, from data structure 404, in stage 712. Forexample, the information service 204 can extract the device type 412,channel number 416, bandwidth 420, load 424, RSSI 428, transmit power432, BSS color identifier 436, spatially reuse information 440, protocolsupport information 444 from the data structure 404, which may beembodied in a MAC frame. This information may then be placed into aseparate message.

The AP 104 a can send the separate message with the ND information to afirst AP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c, as signal 320, in stage 716.The signal 320 may be sent through a controller 101 a or directly to theAP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c. In other configurations, the AP 1a104 a may spoof the other AP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h, and/or send theneighbor information in another MAC frame to the receiving AP, e.g., AP2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c. In still other configurations, the AP 1a 104 acan send the neighbor information in a broadcast frame (or a FILS frameor other data or signal construct) to the receiving AP, e.g., AP 2d 104h or AP 1c 104 c This ND information may then be used by the AP, e.g.,AP 2d 104 h or AP 1c 104 c to communicate with the other AP(s) todetermine various RRM procedures, as described in conjunction with FIG.5.

A method 800 for receiving information about AP, e.g., AP 2d 104 h or AP1c 104 c, in a neighbor report or a reduced neighbor report may be asdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 8. Generally, the method 800 startswith a start operation 804 and ends with an end operation 816. Themethod 800 can include more or fewer steps or can arrange the order ofthe steps differently than those shown in FIG. 8. The method 800 can beexecuted as a set of computer-executable instructions, executed by acomputer system or processing component, and be encoded or stored on astorage medium. Further, the method 800 can be executed by a gate orother hardware device or component in an ASIC, a FPGA, or other type ofhardware device. Hereinafter, the method 800 shall be explained withreference to the systems, components, modules, software, datastructures, etc. described herein.

The information service 204, of AP 1c 104 c or AP 1a 104 a, can receivea beacon or a FILS discovery frame from a first AP 2d 104 h, in stage808. Thus, AP 1c 104 c may be in some situations in direct contact withAP 2d 104 h. In these situations, the AP 1c 104 c can receive a beaconor FILS discovery frame directly from AP 2d 104 h, in signal 324. Theneighbor report component 220 can receive the information in beacon orFILS discovery frame to determine or extract neighbor reportinformation.

The neighbor report component 220 extracts the neighbor reportinformation in the NR or RNR from the beacon or FILS frame received insignal 324, in stage 812. This information may include the informationshown in data structure 454 of FIG. 4B. Notably, the channel number 416and reporting device RSSI 456 can be extracted and used for determiningan adjusted RSSI, as described in conjunction with FIG. 5.

In other configurations, the information service 204, of AP 2d 104 h,can receive a beacon or a FILS discovery frame from AP 1a 104 a, instage 808. Thus, AP 1a 104 a and provide information about AP 1c 104 cin a beacon of FILS frame. In these situations, the AP 2d 104 h canreceive a beacon or FILS discovery frame directly from AP 1a 104 a, insignal 324. The neighbor report component 220 can receive theinformation in beacon or FILS discovery frame to determine or extractneighbor report information about AP 1c 104 c.

The neighbor report component 220 extracts the neighbor reportinformation in the NR or RNR from the beacon or FILS frame received insignal 324, in stage 812. This information may include the informationshown in data structure 454 of FIG. 4B and associated with AP 1c 104 c.Notably, the channel number 416 and reporting device RSSI 456 can beextracted and used for determining an adjusted RSSI, as described inconjunction with FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a communications device 900 that mayimplement one or more of APs 104, controllers 101, and/or STAs 106 ofFIG. 1. In various embodiments, device 900 may comprise a logic circuit.The logic circuit may include physical circuits to perform operationsdescribed for one or more of APs 104, controllers 101, and STAs of FIG.1, for example. As shown in FIG. 9, device 900 may include one or moreof, but is not limited to, a radio interface 910, baseband circuitry920, and/or computing platform 930.

The device 900 may implement some or all of the structures and/oroperations for one or more of APs 104, controllers 101, and/or STAs 106of FIG. 1, storage medium 960, and logic circuit in a single computingentity, such as entirely within a single device. Alternatively, thedevice 900 may distribute portions of the structure and/or operationsusing a distributed system architecture, such as a client-serverarchitecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, a master-slave architecture,etc.

An radio interface 910, which may also include an analog front end(AFE), may include a component or combination of components adapted fortransmitting and/or receiving single-carrier or multi-carrier modulatedsignals (e.g., including Complementary Code Keying (CCK), orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM), and/or Single-Carrier FrequencyDivision Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbols) although the configurationsare not limited to any specific over-the-air interface or modulationscheme. The radio interface 910 may include, for example, a receiver 912and/or a transmitter 916. Radio interface 910 may include bias controls,a crystal oscillator, and/or one or more antennas 918. In additional oralternative configurations, the radio interface 910 may use oscillatorsand/or one or more filters, as desired.

Baseband circuitry 920 may communicate with radio interface 910 toprocess, receive, and/or transmit signals and may include, for example,an Analog-To-Digital Converter (ADC) for down converting receivedsignals with a Digital-To-Analog Converter (DAC) 922 for up convertingsignals for transmission. Further, baseband circuitry 920 may include abaseband or PHYsical layer (PHY) processing circuit for the PHY linklayer processing of respective receive/transmit signals. Basebandcircuitry 920 may include, for example, a Medium Access Control (MAC)processing circuit 927 for MAC/data link layer processing. Basebandcircuitry 920 may include a memory controller for communicating with MACprocessing circuit 927 and/or a computing platform 930, for example, viaone or more interfaces 934.

In some configurations, PHY processing circuit may include a frameconstruction and/or detection module, in combination with additionalcircuitry such as a buffer memory, to construct and/or deconstructcommunication frames. Alternatively or in addition, MAC processingcircuit 927 may share processing for certain of these functions orperform these processes independent of PHY processing circuit. In someconfigurations, MAC and PHY processing may be integrated into a singlecircuit.

The computing platform 930 may provide computing functionality for thedevice 900. As shown, the computing platform 930 may include aprocessing component 928. In addition to, or alternatively of, thebaseband circuitry 920, the device 900 may execute processing operationsor logic for one or more of APs 104, controllers 101, and/or STAs 106,storage medium 960, and logic circuits using the memory components 960.The processing component 928 (and/or PHY and/or MAC 927) may comprisevarious hardware elements, software elements, or a combination of both.Examples of hardware elements may include devices, logic devices,components, processors, microprocessors, circuits, processor circuits,circuit elements (e.g., transistors, resistors, capacitors, inductors,and so forth), integrated circuits, Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASIC), Programmable Logic Devices (PLD), Digital SignalProcessors (DSP), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), memory units,logic gates, registers, semiconductor device, chips, microchips, chipsets, and so forth. Examples of software elements may include softwarecomponents, programs, applications, computer programs, applicationprograms, system programs, software development programs, machineprograms, operating system software, middleware, firmware, softwaremodules, routines, subroutines, functions, methods, procedures, softwareinterfaces, Application Program Interfaces (API), instruction sets,computing code, computer code, code segments, computer code segments,words, values, symbols, or any combination thereof. Determining whetheran embodiment is implemented using hardware elements and/or softwareelements may vary in accordance with any number of factors, such asdesired computational rate, power levels, heat tolerances, processingcycle budget, input data rates, output data rates, memory resources,data bus speeds and other design or performance constraints, as desiredfor a given implementation.

The computing platform 930 may further include other platformcomponents. Other platform components include common computing elements,such as one or more processors, multi-core processors, co-processors,memory units, chipsets, controllers, peripherals, interfaces,oscillators, timing devices, video cards, audio cards, multimediaInput/Output (I/O) components (e.g., digital displays), power supplies,and so forth. Examples of memory units 960 may include withoutlimitation various types of computer readable and machine readablestorage media in the form of one or more higher speed memory units, suchas Read-Only Memory (ROM), Random-Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM(DRAM), Double-Data-Rate DRAM (DDRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), StaticRAM (SRAM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM),Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, polymermemory such as ferroelectric polymer memory, ovonic memory, phase changeor ferroelectric memory, Silicon-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (SONOS)memory, magnetic or optical cards, an array of devices such as RedundantArray of Independent Disks (RAID) drives, solid state memory devices(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory, Solid State Drives (SSD) andany other type of storage media suitable for storing information.

Device 900 may be, for example, an ultra-mobile device, a mobile device,a fixed device, a Machine-To-Machine (M2M) device, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), a mobile computing device, a smart phone, a telephone,a digital telephone, a cellular telephone, user equipment, eBookreaders, a handset, a one-way pager, a two-way pager, a messagingdevice, a computer, a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, alaptop computer, a notebook computer, a netbook computer, a handheldcomputer, a tablet computer, a server, a server array or server farm, aweb server, a network server, an Internet server, a work station, amini-computer, a main frame computer, a supercomputer, a networkappliance, a web appliance, a distributed computing system,multiprocessor systems, processor-based systems, consumer electronics,programmable consumer electronics, game devices, display, television,digital television, set top box, wireless access point, base station,node B, subscriber station, mobile subscriber center, radio networkcontroller, router, hub, gateway, bridge, switch, machine, orcombination thereof. Accordingly, functions and/or specificconfigurations of device 900 described herein, may be included oromitted in various embodiments of device 900, as suitably desired.

Embodiments of device 900 may be implemented using Single Input SingleOutput (SISO) architectures. However, certain implementations mayinclude multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 918) for transmission and/orreception using adaptive antenna techniques for beamforming or SpatialDivision Multiple Access (SDMA) and/or using MIMO communicationtechniques.

The components and features of device 900 may be implemented using anycombination of discrete circuitry, Application Specific IntegratedCircuits (ASICs), logic gates and/or single chip architectures. Further,the features of device 900 may be implemented using microcontrollers,programmable logic arrays and/or microprocessors or any combination ofthe foregoing where suitably appropriate. It is noted that hardware,firmware, and/or software elements may be collectively or individuallyreferred to herein as “logic,” “circuit,” or “processor.”

The device in FIG. 9 can also contain a security module (not shown).This security module can contain information regarding, but not limitedto, security parameters required to connect the device to another deviceor other available networks or network devices, and can include WirelessEquivalent Privacy (WEP) or Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security accesskeys, network keys, etc., as discussed.

Another module that the device in FIG. 9 can include is a network accessunit (not shown). The network access unit can be used for connectingwith another network device. In one example, connectivity can includesynchronization between devices. In another example, the network accessunit can work as a medium which provides support for communication withother stations. In yet another example, the network access unit can workin conjunction with at least the MAC circuitry 927. The network accessunit can also work and interact with one or more of themodules/components described herein.

It should be appreciated that the exemplary device 900 shown in theblock diagram of FIG. 9 may represent one functionally descriptiveexample of many potential implementations. Accordingly, division,omission, or inclusion of block functions depicted in the accompanyingfigures does not infer that the hardware components, circuits, softwareand/or elements for implementing these functions would be necessarily bedivided, omitted, or included in embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a first AccessPoint (AP), of a first Extended Service Set (ESS), and from a second APof a second ESS, information about a third AP of the second ESS; basedon the information about the third AP, determining, by the first AP, ametric associated with the third AP; and based on the metric,conducting, by the first AP, Radio Resource Management (RRM) to accountfor the third AP.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first AP couldnot detect a presence of the third AP.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereinthe second AP associates with an open service set identifier (SSID) ofthe first AP to notify the first AP of the third AP and provideinformation associated with the third AP.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the second AP communicates with the first AP using an auxiliaryradio.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the information about the thirdAP is received in a beacon report at the first AP and from the secondAP.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the third AP is a cellular basestation, wherein the second AP is managed by a same controller thatmanages the second ESS, and wherein the beacon report also includes 5Glicense assisted access (LAA) channels or bandwidth information ofnearby 5G base stations.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation about the third AP, received by the second AP, is includedin a Media Access Control (MAC) frame containing Neighbor Discovery (ND)information associated with the third AP.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the ND information comprises one or more of a device type, achannel number, a bandwidth, a load, a received RSSI, a transmissionpower, BSS color, a number of spatial reuse opportunities, or protocolsupport.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: the first APcomparing the ND information against a list of known neighbor APs; andif the list of known neighbor APs does not include the third AP, thefirst AP adding the third AP to the list for channelization and BSScolor algorithms.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the metric is anadjusted Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), wherein determiningthe adjusted RSSI comprises adding the received RSSI to a RSSIdetermined by the first AP and subtracting a reference RSSI.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the adjusted RSSI is compared to apredetermined threshold, and wherein, if the adjusted RSSI is not abovethe predetermined threshold, ignoring the third AP in RRM calculationsas being too far from the first AP.
 12. An access point (AP) comprising:a radio; a memory; a processor in communication with the memory and theradio, the processor operable to conduct a method comprising: receiving,at a first Access Point (AP) of a first Extended Service Set (ESS),information about a third AP, of a second ESS, through a second AP alsoof the second ESS; based on the information about the third AP and/orsecond AP, determining, by the first AP, a metric associated with thethird AP; and based on the metric, conducting, by the first AP, RadioResource Management (RRM) to account for the third AP.
 13. The AP ofclaim 12, wherein the information about the third AP is one or more of:received in a Neighbor Report (NR) or a Reduced Neighbor Report (RNR) bythe first AP in a beacon report from the second AP, received in a FastInitial Link Setup (FILS) discovery frame sent by the second AP, orreceived after an active probe sent by the first AP.
 14. The AP of claim13, wherein the metric is an adjusted Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI), and wherein determining the adjusted RSSI comprises adding areceived RSSI to a constant adjustment factor.
 15. An extended serviceset (ESS) comprising: a first Access Point (AP) operable to: receiveinformation about a third AP from a second device, wherein both thesecond device and a third AP are associated with a second ESS; based onthe information about the third AP, determining, by the first AP, anadjusted Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) associated with thethird AP; and based on the adjusted RSSI, conducting, by the first AP,Radio Resource Management (RRM) to account for the third AP.
 16. The ESSof claim 15, wherein the information about the third AP is encrypted.17. The ESS of claim 15, wherein the second device spoofs the first APto appear as a client to associate with an open Service Set IDentifier(SSID) of the first AP.
 18. The ESS of claim 15, wherein the seconddevice is a sensor or a second AP.
 19. The ESS of claim 15, wherein theinformation about the third AP, received by the first AP, is included ina Media Access Control (MAC) frame containing Neighbor Discovery (ND)information associated with the third AP.
 20. The ESS of claim 19,wherein the ND information comprises one or more of a device type, achannel number, a bandwidth, a load, a received RSSI, a transmissionpower, a BSS color identifier, a number of spatial reuse opportunities,5G bandwidth, 5G channels, or protocol support.